An owner of the largest single residential building project currently under way in Leelanau County - Marcus W. Yono - appears to be in some trouble with the federal Internal Revenue Service.

An IRS agent in Detroit told the Enterprise this week she finds it “very interesting” that Yono somehow came up with a cashier’s check for more than $202,000 last week to pay off his overdue 2005 Leelanau County property taxes just days before the county treasurer was slated to foreclose on his properties.

Revenue Officer Nancy M. Boltrick of the IRS confirmed that on Dec. 31, 2007, she filed a “Notice of Federal Tax Lien” against Yono, indicating that he owes more than $223,000 in federal payroll taxes for 2005, 2006 and 2007. And, on March 10, the IRS filed a second federal tax lien in the Leelanau County Register of Deeds Office indicating that Yono and his wife owe the federal government $117,572 in personal income taxes for 2005.

“The filing of a federal tax lien is a standard procedure to protect the government’s financial interests,” Boltrick explained, “and it’s a very minor first step toward resolving issues with people who haven’t paid their taxes,” she said.

Failing to pay payroll taxes collected from employees is considered “fraud,” IRS sources said, that can result in federal prosecution leading to incarceration.

“I find it very interesting how he (Yono) keeps getting money,” Boltrick said, “I don’t know how he gets it.”

According to county treasurer Vicki Kilway, an attorney representing Yono this month presented her with a cashier’s check from the Eastern Michigan branch of Fifth Third Bank for $202,257.65 – the exact amount the developer owed in 2005 property taxes on 41 “tax parcels” within the BayView development in the Village of Suttons Bay. Kilway began foreclosure proceedings against Yono’s “Suttons Pointe Development” corporation last year and was prepared to sieze the tax-delinquent properties on Monday, March 31.

“There have still been no payments for 2006 or 2007 on the same 41 tax parcels,” Kilway added.

She said the developer still owes $220,543 in delinquent property taxes from 2006 and $278,520 from 2007. Most of the 41 “tax parcels” are unsold or unbuilt BayView condo units.

Two financial institutions have begun proceedings to collect on loans made to Yono and his partner.

National City Bank is currently suing Yono and his partner Jeffrey Roth for their alleged failure to pay off more than $625,000 they owe on a loan secured last year. In addition, Independent Mortgage Company of Central Michigan this year filed suit against Yono and Roth, alleging that the partners still owe more than $100,000 on a $665,000 loan they secured last year.

At the beginning of 2008, there were nine lawsuits pending against the BayView developer; all but three have been settled. In addition to the two suits from the financial institutions, one other pending suit is from a party that wants its deposit back on a BayView unit.

Yono and Roth are also partners in “Leelanau Hills Development, L.L.C.” which is building a residential neighborhood off Scott Hill Road west off M-22 in the Village of Suttons Bay. Work on that development was halted last year until a paving contractor, Reith-Riley, discharged a lien it had filed against the development after Yono and Roth secured the loan from National City Bank. Reith-Riley then completed its paving project in the Leelanau Hills development in November 2007 – but last month filed another $468,114 lien against the developer.

The only other lien on file against the BayView developer last week was one for $23,369 from a court judgement entered last year in favor of Prism Publications, the publisher of Traverse magazine. The magazine had published a series of full-page color advertisements for the BayView development last year and before.

IRS agents in Detroit declined to provide specifics on their current case against Yono, but did provide some background information on the “941 taxes” that the federal lien notices indicate Yono failed to pay in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

The term “941 taxes” refers to the federal tax forms employers are required to fill out, indicating how much they withheld from employees’ paychecks for federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes. Boltrick explained that employees are not held liable for their employer’s failure to pay the taxes.

Yono is also the owner of Livingston Building Company in Brighton which oversaw construction at BayView. Most of those directly employed by Yono are believed to be based in Livingston County. Yono himself resides in Livingston County, in Howell. The second federal tax lien, filed against him this month, referred to his failure to pay personal income taxes – his “1040 taxes” – and also lists a Kimberly Dione Yono of Howell, presumably Marcus Yono’s wife, as being delinquent.

Marcus Yono has not returned phone calls from the Enterprise for at least the past year. Although Yono’s attorneys have responded to requests for comment from the Enterprise more recently, they did not respond this week to a request for comment on their client’s issues with the IRS.

“There are many reasons employers don’t withhold or pay employment taxes,” according to a news release provided by the IRS. “For some it may be an attempt to use the government as a bank to ‘borrow the money for a short while’ with good intentions to pay it back later. For others, it may be a situation where an employer collects the taxes and elects to keep it during a period of financial difficulty rather than pay it to the IRS.”

The IRS news release went on to say that “IRS Criminal Investigation investigates and refers for prosecution individuals and businesses that have willfully attempted to avoid filing and paying employment taxes. These efforts have led to significant criminal convictions resulting in incarceration and fines.”